Archive for August, 2010
Morgan Stanley Says Government Defaults Inevitable
August 25th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Investors will face defaults on government bonds given the burden of aging populations and the difficulty of securing more tax revenue, according to Morgan Stanley. “Governments will impose a loss on some of their stakeholders,” Arnaud Mares, an executive director at Morgan Stanley in London, wrote in a research report today. “The question […]
U.S. Military’s Top Secret X-37B Shuttle ‘Disappears’ for Two Weeks, Changes Orbit
August 25th, 2010Realtime track of X-37B. Via: news.com.au: AMATEUR astronomers are enjoying a cat-and-mouse game with the US military in keeping track of its secret space plane, the X-37B. The X-37B was launched in April amid much publicity, but scant detail about its true use. Built by Boeing’s Phantom Works division, the X-37B program was originally headed […]
Murdered British Spy Found Stuffed Into Sports Bag in Bath of London Flat
August 25th, 2010Real Headline: MI6 Codebreaker Gareth Williams ‘Probably Locked Himself Into Sports Bag’ Mmm hmm. Sure. It’s incredible what someone might get up to inside a gym bag… inside an MI6 safehouse. Via: Telegraph: MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams probably locked himself into the sports bag where his naked body was found and was not the victim […]
Filling Free Minutes with Video Games
August 25th, 2010Has it really come to this? I have to ask: Via: New York Times: “People think they’re refreshing themselves, but they’re fatiguing themselves,” said Marc Berman, a University of Michigan neuroscientist. Regardless, there is now a whole industry of mobile software developers competing to help people scratch the entertainment itch. Flurry, a company that tracks […]
Pre Crime: Software Could Influence Sentencing Recommendations and Bail Amounts
August 24th, 2010Via: ABC News: New crime prediction software being rolled out in the nation’s capital should reduce not only the murder rate, but the rate of many other crimes as well. Developed by Richard Berk, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the software is already used in Baltimore and Philadelphia to predict which individuals on […]
California Delays $2.9 Billion School, County Payments Amid Budget Impasse
August 24th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: California will delay paying $2.9 billion of subsidies to schools and counties in September, a month earlier than projected, to save cash amid an impasse that has left the state without a budget for 54 days. The state’s top financial officials — the controller, treasurer and finance director — told lawmakers today that […]
The U.S. Ministry of Egg Production
August 24th, 2010As usual, for this and all other food nightmares, the solution is to get more people involved with widely distributed, small scale food production. My guess is that chickens are, by far, the best choice for integrating into a small scale food production system. They’re the ultimate permaculture creatures. They provide meat, eggs, manure and […]
Zombies Tapped Out: Subscribers to Pay TV Services Fell for First Time Ever
August 24th, 2010Via: Investors Business Daily: The number of subscribers to cable, satellite and telecom TV services in the U.S. fell for the first time ever in the second quarter, according to research firm SNL Kagan. The U.S. multichannel TV market lost 216,000 customers last quarter, vs. a gain of 378,000 a year ago. The total number […]
Big Picture Gallery: Russia in Color, a Century Ago
August 24th, 2010Via: Big Picture / Boston Globe: With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic […]
States Are Out of Cash, and So Are Their Lending Programs
August 24th, 2010Via: CNN: Many state programs that help small businesses get loans they need to survive or expand are in jeopardy, victims of the economic downturn and state budget gaps. The programs — in dozens of states from Vermont to California — cost relatively little to run, are remarkably successful and create jobs. Massachusetts’ program has […]
